...Instead of aggressively adding workers, corporations have been buying labor-saving equipment, banking cash, distributing record dividends, buying back stock or undertaking ambitious mergers that often lead to job losses.

There is a wide range of reasons for these choices. Manufacturers such as Guthrie are pinched by price competition and required to continually cut costs. Other executives are wary about expanding payrolls in a time of ballooning healthcare premiums. Companies are cautious about bloating their staffs, remembering the excesses of the late 1990s. And shipping jobs out of the country still seems cheaper than paying American salaries.